It’s tough for a lot of teams to prepare for the season with just two weeks of practice time beforehand. Lawrence High’s volleyball team didn’t even get to use that much time as they had tryouts for almost the entire first week.

When the Lions took the court for the LHS jamboree on Wednesday after just two practices, you could see there was still work to be done, but plenty of potential for the upcoming year.

“I think we have a really, really good varsity team this year,” senior middle blocker Cienna Sorell said. “We have 12 players so we’re all going to be fighting for positions because there’s going to be six of us on the bench at all times. It’s going to bring a good competition to the team.”

I shot video of the varsity volleyball team squaring off against the junior varsity in the jamboree, and you can watch some of the highlights from the first set below:

http://www2.ljworld.com/videos/2014/aug/29/35964/
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Lawrence High’s boys soccer team had its season-opener against Manhattan on Friday postponed because of lightning.

The match lasted 15 minutes and 12 seconds, before the referees stopped the game. Manhattan had outshot the Lions, 3-1, though both teams had a couple of solid runs toward the net before an hour delay and eventual postponement.

“I think the energy was fine,” LHS coach Mike Murphy said. “I think the guys were ready to play and up, and all that kind of stuff. It’s just right now we’re working still working out some bugs as far as movement and communication and what we want to do with the ball.”

Murphy said it’s hard to simulate game speed, so that was a cause for a few problems, but it should be help for the Lions’ next game, which is at 7 p.m. Tuesday against Topeka High at LHS.

“Especially for new guys, guys who have never played in a varsity match, yeah I think that (15 minutes) was huge,” Murphy said.
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Some quick notes on a couple of Lawrence natives:

•Former Lawrence High left-handed pitcher Garrett Cleavinger, who now is a relief pitcher for the University of Oregon, was named the 17th top prospect from the famous Cape Cod League this summer by Baseball America.

Baseball America noted Cleavinger’s fastball velocity jumped to 92-95 mph and he showed off an improved slider at 80-84 mph. “He has a deceptive, short arm action, and the ball explodes out of his hand, giving lefthanded hitters fits,” Aaron Fitt of Baseball America wrote. “His fastball has running life, and he is still learning to command it in the zone, but he did post an impressive 33-4 strikeout-walk mark in 15 innings this summer. He’s a reliever all the way, but he could make a big league impact soon.”

•Former Free State distance runner Bailey Sullivan, now at Texas Christian University, ran in her first collegiate race, the Baylor University Invitational on Friday. In the 4k cross country run, Sullivan finished 21st among 69 runners with a time of 14:51.5, which ranked second among TCU runners.
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As always, feel free to comment, email me, or find me on Twitter @nightengalejr.